It is Agrahayan. The city has not felt winter yet, but the cold wind has reached the countryside. At first light, farmers were busy in the fields of Singair, Manikganj, a region of diverse farming: some harvesting vegetables, others preparing for new crops.

The programme has come here many times and marvelled at the green carpet of crops stretching to the horizon. Being close to the capital, not a single decimal of land lies fallow; local and foreign vegetables are grown everywhere. Those without land rent it to farm commercially, and many are building large farm projects, enriching crop diversity and cropping intensity.

This is Bokchar in Singair. The silt-rich field on the bank of the Dhaleshwari is excellent for crops. Here, farmer Anwar Hossain Bhandari grows broccoli, kohlrabi, carrot, red beet, cabbage and other vegetables on about 80 bighas. He returned from abroad two decades ago and chose farming as his profession.

Source: Shykh Seraj, Krishi Dibanishi. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.